Bike Fest Revelstoke kicks off Sept. 14

'This year the Revelstoke Cycling Association and Bikes, Beers, and Babes are lending their efforts to the Bike Fest Revelstoke event to help elevate it into a fixture in the B.C. biking scene. The event is also being tied in with the Mountain Bike Tourism Symposium happening from September 13–15, so it will be a great opportunity to meet enthusiastic riders from other communities.'

Bike Fest Revelstoke started five years ago based on the idea that Revelstoke simply should have a mountain biking festival. Brent Strand, Mike Gravelle, and approximately twenty others got together with the idea that they would put together an event to celebrate mountain biking in Revelstoke.

According to Strand, over the years volunteer support for the event has dwindled, making it hard to do much more than a few group rides. This year, however, the Revelstoke Cycling Association and Bikes, Beers, and Babes are lending their efforts to the event to help elevate it into a fixture in the B.C. biking scene. The event is also being tied in with the Mountain Bike Tourism Symposium happening from September 13–15, so it will be a great opportunity to meet enthusiastic riders from other communities.

Highlights for Bike Fest this year will be a movie night at the River City Pub on Friday, September 15, a scavenger hunt on the Saturday evening, and Revelstoke’s first all women’s enduro race on Sunday afternoon. There will be group rides, social events, and a little something bike-related for everyone.

The featured film for the movie night will be Shift, a film about indigenous youth in the Yukon who worked on their local traditional trails and transformed their home town of Carcross into a world class mountain biking destination. It’s had rave reviews from around the globe. Tickets for the film night will be $10, which includes entry into a raffle to win two nights at Sol Mountain Lodge. Proceeds will go to the Revelstoke Cycling Association.

If you’re a tourist in town for the festival, Strand recommends that you head out on a group ride. “We have had many different tourists show up and once they come to one ride they seem to be hooked and show up for everything else,” Strand says. It’s a great opportunity to gain local trail knowledge and to enjoy a social atmosphere while riding.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Revelstoke’s market is the place to be on Saturday mornings! Downtown’s Grizzly Plaza, surrounded by heritage buildings interspersed with views of snow covered peaks, comes alive with colourful awnings, crowds of people, and a vibrant market[...]